Sylvester or The Wicked Uncle by Georgette Heyer

Salford decides to please his mother by meeting Phoebe (he has no memory of their previous meeting) & is invited to stay by Lord Marlow. The novel is about to be published anonymously with the help of Phoebe’s governess Miss Battery. Without knowing any of his personal circumstances, she made Ugolino a wicked uncle who has usurped his brother’s place & kidnaps his nephew. She modeled her villain, Ugolino, on Salford, after dancing with him once & then being ignored by him at another party. She has literary aspirations & has written a novel using her experiences during the Season. Her greatest friend is Tom Orde, son of the local Squire & her greatest love & interest is horses. Phoebe Marlow is an intelligent young woman living miserably at home with a cold, uncaring stepmother. Sylvester & Ianthe loathe each other & another motive for his marriage would be to encourage Ianthe to leave Edmund in the care of him & his wife when she marries foppish Sir Nugent Fotherby. Salford’s heir is his nephew, Edmund, son of his twin brother, Harry, who died young & a flibbertigibbet called Ianthe. Phoebe’s grandmother, Lady Ingham, had given Phoebe a Season in London but it wasn’t a great success.

Verena died when her daughter, Phoebe, was only a few weeks old & she now lives with her father & his second family. She had hoped that he might marry the daughter of her greatest friend, Verena Marlow. Salford’s invalid mother worries that he has become arrogant & unfeeling. He’s obviously not in love with any of these young women & doesn’t see love as a necessary prerequisite to marriage. When he decides that it’s time he married, he has a shortlist of suitable candidates. Rank, wealth, good looks & pleasing manners.

Sylvester, Duke of Salford has everything.

Sylvester or The Wicked Uncle by Georgette Heyer